Life-Span Extension - Myths About Life Extension, Scientific Analysis Of Longevity, Centenarians, Life-extension Strategies That Work

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Opinions about life-span extension range from the optimistic, fanciful thinking of Ben Bova, a noted science fiction writer, who wrote: "The first immortal human beings are probably living among us today. You may be one of them." (Bova, p. 3), to the realistic views of Steve Austad, a respected researcher on the evolution of aging processes, who wrote: "In Westminster Abbey. . . lie the bones of one rather ordinary man.. . .Thomas Parr's only claim to fame is that
he managed to convince a gullible seventeenth-century public that he had been alive for more than 150 years" (Austad, p. 1). There has probably been no more consistent and heartfelt fantasy than to imagine living forever in a youthful body full of health and vigor. From the dawn of written language, there are references to such life extension. Do some people show extraordinary life extension? What can people do to maximize their own life potential? What is known about the mechanisms of life extension? These are some of the questions that will be addressed below.

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Demography is the science that deals with human longevity, among other things. Demographers have learned to be very careful about accepting claims of extraordinary longevity, because there is a very human tendency to exaggerate one's age after a certain point. A combination of good documentation and continual historical verification of identity help to rule out those who are making untruthf…

There are lots of people who manage to live a long time. The century mark has proven itself to be a useful measure of establishing a truly long life. The number of centenarians is growing rapidly, but the longest lived, so far, is Madam Jeanne Louise Calment, who had a validated life span longer than any one else in recorded history, living 122 years, 165 days. Calment was born in Arles, France on…

Interventions that lead to a longer life span have been sought for ages. There is a huge amount of money to be made by selling over-the-counter drugs, dietary supplements, and nutraceuticals that claim some effect on life extension. Numerous companies and scientists are trying to develop dietary interventions that will prolong life. As of this writing however, there is no scientifically validated …

Choosing long-lived parents is currently the best method of insuring one's longevity. For now, there's not much people can do to ensure that the genes they got from their parents were the best possible. Each of us is responsible for maximizing our own life span (or not) as we see fit. Interventions to rectify such hereditary defects are probably at least a few decades away; but there…

After the end of the reproductive period, an organism, be it mouse or human, can no longer contribute to the evolutionary pool in any sort of direct way, so there is little reason to think that evolution would select for individuals who live well past the age of reproduction. Moreover, since most organisms in the wild die from infection, accident, or predation, most scientists working on aging thi…

Scientists have discovered that the genetic constitution of an organism can have a significant effect on its longevity. In humans, only a small fraction of the life span seems to be under genetic control, but this estimate could be wrong for many reasons. Geneticists who study humans are interested to know how much of the variation in individual longevity is controlled by the genes of the individu…

Scientists use life extension as a way to find genes that affect aging. Johnson and Wood proposed in 1982 that genetic variants that lengthen
life could be found. Most genetic alterations shorten life, because these mutants reduce overall health and fitness. Indeed, it is counterintuitive that a genetic mutant could actually lead to longer than normal life, because mutations are generally thou…

Many companies are trying to extend the life of short-lived species by using drug treatments. Such a strategy could possibly lead to drugs that lead to life prolongation and slower rates of aging. It was shown in 2000 that life extension can be achieved by drug treatment, at least in invertebrates. This is a natural extension of the genetic approach, using life span as a marker. Such a strategy co…

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